Near perfect start to season for Malley

Near perfect start to season for Malley

Auckland’s Patrick Malley has shown that the pace he had late last season was no fluke with another rally win, taking victory at the Tauranga Clubmans Rally over the weekend.

The Citizen Evo 9 which Patrick moved into at the end of last year had undergone a lot of testing ahead of the National Championship. However, it was the task of running first car on the road that was to cause Malley the most problems, but it was a challenge the young driver enjoyed.

“It made the conditions a lot more interesting. I could pick the lines I like instead of having to drive to the same lines as everyone else. Now we have a good idea of the handicap from running first on the road and we should be able to cope well in the NZRC,” said Malley.

The early pace-setter was Ian Wood and Malley left the lunch-time service in third place, 24 seconds behind Wood after four special stages. Then after special stage five Malley jumped up into second place and halved Wood’s lead. In stage six Wood struck problems that saw his retirement.

"After loosing as much as 35 seconds to Ian early on, we were starting to hit our stride and were closing up on him But unfortunately Ian hit some problems and we lost the opportunity to have a really good scrap with him," said Malley.

With two stage wins on stages six and seven, Malley opened up a 27 seconds lead over Adam Bligh with just one stage remaining. A second fastest time through the treacherous final stage saw the 2008 Two Wheel Drive National champion claim his third career victory.

The result is encouraging for the team heading into first round of the NZRC at Otago on April 10-11, as an excited Malley explains, "This is exactly the way that we wanted to start the year - with a win - and I just can’t wait to see what the rest of the season brings!"

ENDS

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